He’s also adept at doing spectacular things off the court that garner as much attention if not more.

This time, he’s blown up the National Basketball League of Canada most valuable player conversation by asking that his name be removed from the award ballot.

The London Lightning star and 2016-17 league most valuable player tweeted the following Tuesday morning in reference to a story in that appeared that day in The London Free Press focusing on the MVP award:

“Hey Morris, tell them please remove my name from the ballot. I don’t need an award to validate my game or contribution. The league has transgressed so much this season, it honestly wouldn’t be an honor. Everybody knows who the MVP is. Who’s Salerno? #AllLeft #LightningvsEverybody”

The tweet caused a storm on social media — only a few days before the MVP winner is expected to be announced.

Joe Salerno, coach of the Moncton Magic, was quoted in the story on what he would look for in a most valuable player. The league ballot has eight players on it, including White. The 10 coaches in the league rank their choices and the player with the most points is the MVP.

Hey Morris, tell them please remove my name from the ballot. I don’t need an award to validate my game or contribution. The league has transgressed so much this season, it honestly wouldn’t be an honor. Everybody knows who the MVP is. Who’s Salerno? #AllLeft#LightningvsEverybody

White is known for his strong opinions and confidence in his game. The former first-round National Basketball Association pick has been a dominant player since coming into the league in 2016-17.

He continues to garner headlines for his advocacy of mental health issues — issues that have generated even more public discussion with the recent admissions by NBA players DeMar DeRozan and Kevin Love about their struggles with mental illness.

White is a lightning rod for attention around the league. He has the talent to be MVP every year. This year he’s also drawn the ire and attention of fans around the league because he has earned several suspensions. Whether he wins or loses the MVP award — the vote has already been taken and his name can’t be removed from the list — the suspensions will have a hand in it.

White says he’s not upset about the voting process. He is troubled by what he believes are personal feelings about him taking precedence over his merits as an MVP candidate.

“Behind the scenes it’s been evident for a while that there’s a personal resentment towards me from other organizations. That comes with dominance, in all iterations of dominance in history,” he said.

White believes he is the best player in the league. But there are numerous examples in sports when best players don’t win.

“Sometimes the best isn’t going to win isn’t really applicable here unless we specify the criteria of best and MVP,” White said. “Usually that expression would anchor an argument for a player who may be statistically more productive than another but not categorically better.

“I’m in the Top 10 in stats categories and top two of the five. Plus I’m categorically better than the other players. I wasn’t the unanimous choice last season and I broke the career triple-double record in one season. That speaks volumes, I’d say.”

White went on to talk about the MVP award: “The statistics speak for themselves. Beyond that, with all due respect, none of the other players can even use their weak hand effectively, barring Carl (English.) I just went and scored 30 points, all left-handed — hence the hashtag #AllLeft.”

White also asked why players like Lightning teammates Garrett Williamson and Ryan Anderson were not on the ballot?

One part of White’s tweet that captured a lot of attention was his comment that “the league has transgressed so much this season, it honestly wouldn’t be an honor.”

London Lightning owner Vito Frijia, who is also the president of the NBL, has heavily invested time and money for his team and the league. “I have no comment about the tweet,” he said. “I will talk to Royce personally about it.”

Audley Stephenson, deputy commissioner of the NBL who is compiling the MVP votes, also didn’t have anything to say. “As of this moment I have no comment to Royce’s tweet,” he said.

As a Twitter battle raged on, White fired a blast at the Lightning’s first round playoff opponents, the Niagara River Lions. When pressed what he meant about the league having “transgressed” White fired the following shot: “It is an opinion. Although, it’s a common sentiment amongst those intimately involved in this league. The transgressions are too many to list, but just to grab the low hanging fruit . . . Niagara is the epitome of what a sports organization shouldn’t be. Owner is a clown.”

The River Lions are owned by Richard Petko.

“Not sure what Royce is talking about,” Petko said. “The Niagara River Lions have ‎seen paid attendance increase 10 per cent year over year over year. Our amount of corporate sponsorships has tripled since Year 1. We have completed over 40 school visits this year, preached positive well-being to over 25,000 school children this season.

“Our online YouTube stream is considered by a majority of fans to be the best in the league. Our in-game show has been praised by home and away fans alike and been positively commented on in all forms of traditional media and social media. It is well documented Royce White has issues and I have no idea why he is tweeting what he is tweeting.”

The River Lions and the Lightning were involved in an incident early this season that ended with White being suspended. The two organizations do not like each other.

White gave another example of what he meant by the league having transgressed. “The league has transgressed in many ways, mostly in the internal politics that have manifested into vindictive attacks towards Vito and the organization for its continual dominance,” he said.

White might still wind up winning his second MVP. What would he do then?

“I’ll give it to my team,” he said. “All the guys that got shafted in the award process last year.”

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.